Dawn of the Dead

History 8

October ??, 1978
A private midnight showing of Romero’s extended cut for the film’s cast and crew is held at Pittsburgh’s Chatham Cinema. The exact date is unknown, but an October 23, 1978 column by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s George Anderson mentions it as having taken place “recently.”

October 28, 1978
Dawn of the Dead screens at the annual film festival “Internationale Hofer Filmtage” in Hof, West Germany, with the director present.

November 1978
Dario Argento’s cut of Dawn of the Dead is submitted for the first time to the Australian Classification Board (CB) by New South Wales distributors “Incamera Pty Ltd”, and immediately refused an official rating. Following this initial rejection, the film’s domestic distribution will pretty much lay in limbo for almost a year.

November 24, 1978
Susanna Sparrow’s Dawn of the Dead movie tie-in novelization is published in hardcover by St. Martin’s Press in the U.S. The book eventually will also be issued in Japan, Germany, and the U.K. to coincide with the film’s respective theatrical releases in those countries.

January 11, 1979
One of the earliest American public “sneak previews” of the film (if not the very first) takes place at Angell Hall Auditorium A at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, with George Romero being present for a post-show Q&A.